8-03-09 Some Good News!

Today we went to see the oncologist. I had to give blood for the usual tests and Mieshea (one of the blood-suckers) was an angel. I told her about all the issues they had 2 weeks ago and what my poor arm looked like. She said, "Oh no. You tell them that you want them to use a Pediatric 25 gauge butterfly needle with a syringe. And if they tell you, NO, then you tell them you'll come down to her and she'll do it." I pointed out the vein where they finally got the IV to work on my upper left arm and she got it on the first try with no problem. She even gave us 2 packages of the 25 gauge & the 23 gauge kits in case they said they didn't have any......

Next we met with Dr. Brooks, my oncologist. They still don't have back the Her2 pathology to know for certain that this liver cancer is the same exact breast cancer. But we did get to ask him questions----Only to be told, that yes, it is serious, but it is not fatal at this time and he has 2 trials and a standard chemo process that we can go through once we have those results. David & I were just kind of sitting there, like maybe he hadn't read my results from the biopsy. By the time we recovered our voices, David asked him if we were looking at a short term on my life expectancy, and he said, "no, we're going to fight this thing just like you did before." He told us that unless everything we try goes south (and there is always that possibility) that I will get through this recurrence and be cancer-free again. And then he said if/when it comes back somewhere else in the body, we'll fight it again. We were so relieved that we weren't talking about months to live, but were actually talking about years with a good chance of being cancer-free again.

So what Dr. Courtright told me over the phone was very different from what Dr. Brooks is saying AND what many of us had read about metastatic breast cancer going to the liver on the Internet. We were so relieved and thankful and just appreciative. It's not going to be fun & games, but we did it before and we'll do it again.

I did have the echo cardiogram done at 4 on my heart. Remarks to contrary by my husband, I do have one and it was just beating and swooshing its little self away.

I asked Dr. Brooks about the pains I've been having in the right breast (the actual breast cancer sight) and he made a note to schedule me for a mammogram on the right breast. I just made an appointment for the left breast in October I think.

Andrea Canady was at MCD taking a field sobriety test (AKA a lung capacity test) before she can go back into the hospital on Wednesday to start her next round of chemo. She came downstairs and found us and got goosebumps on both arms when we told her!!! Andrea has been such a friend through this. It's impossible to put a price on that kind of friendship.

So the next step will be to go to Dr. Brooks' office again when they get the HER2 results in and we decide what chemo steps to take. Thank you for everyone's prayers, phone calls, cards, books, visits, hugs & love. David & I appreciate every one of you who have given of yourself to us. God is good.